CHAPTER 12: The First to Fall
Half an hour after retreating they were back at their starting warehouse wiping off any blood, sharpening their weapons, and eating more sandwiches.
“How are we supposed to handle so many of them?” asked Andrea. “If more and more were coming we would get tired or overwhelmed.”
Lucas was the one who answered, “That’s why Adam keeps rotating who does what. That way some could rest while others fight, allowing us to not get as tired. But if large groups come then we need to retreat. We don’t have enough people or good weapons to cover all sides. We even stopped paying attention and would have been ambushed twice if not for Adam.”
“Yeah, thanks darling,” smiled Andrea at Adam and batted her eyes. He smiled back uncertainly, unsure how to respond. There had never been a drive within Adam to pursue relationships, but he still had the same desire for attention and affection as others. It was unclear to him what was going on now, so he figured he’d just play along with Andrea and Alissa and let them have their fun, even at his expense.
“I wish I had more drones out there,” muttered Ed. “I went conservative with just one, but even with the videos I got I should be able to put up a decent release.”
“Hey, big boss,” asked Alissa. “What’s your story? I know we’ve been in classes together since middle school, but why are you so good at this? Especially when you’ve never seemed to try in school.”
“Good at what?” asked Adam.
“Fighting and leading,” Andrea continued. “Like, do you have a violent father? Are your parents divorced or your older brothers forced you to survive on your own? Poor rundown house, eating moldy food you swiped from garbage cans to get barely enough nutrition? Running into the woods late at night laying traps to catch critters so you don’t starve?”
Adam thought about the question. He did feel something inside himself, probably what the [System] called soul corruption, giving him impulses. It wasn’t memories or another person telling him what to do, but it almost felt as if it was poking parts of himself that he normally didn’t use. He kept reactive to these parts instinctively, like he had been trained for it even though he hadn’t. It was probably better not to talk about it, so he just shrugged and said, “It’s a normal house.”
Laughter came from Nick at the questions. Everyone was paying attention and Adam noticed that the drone was still pointing at the group.
“You girls watch too many dramas,” Nick said when he got control of himself. “Oh man! When he says normal, he means it. Adam’s family is a cliche middle class family. Father is a middle manager at a large company in the city. His mom works at a local bank and is the authority at home. He has one sister, two years younger than us, and no difficulties in his life beyond needing to earn money for his own video games.”
“Is your sister cute? Do you get along?” Abbey asked.
“She and I are fine. We don’t really argue, though she is bossy and sometimes tries to start fights with me. She’s currently a bit too addicted to social media and will harass me with it, but whatever. We’ve never had major arguments,” Adam answered.
With that generic answer the girls instead turned to Nick and asked him questions. Hearing some of the questions come out, Adam tried to head them off.
“Since we’re talking about families, what are yours like?” Unfortunately, once he heard the answers, he wished they had continued talking to Nick.
“Andrea is the third of four sisters. They live with their mom and grandma. Her oldest sister has a kid with a boyfriend, so attention only goes to the youngest sister and the grandchild. Andrea is completely ignored,” said Alissa.
“Alissa lives with her mom and her mom’s boyfriend. Her mom works at a beauty salon. Alissa stays with other people because she is concerned what the boyfriend will do if he catches her alone,” answered Andrea.
“Abbey’s father expects her to be perfect. He’s a mid-tier businessman who acts wealthy, making things difficult for her. Her mom left them a long time ago,” explained Alissa.
Then the guys started in.
“My father was in the military and has always made me be tough. Been boxing since I was seven, so I’m used to conflict and violence,” Lucas said off handedly.
“My dad spends most of his money on booze and strippers. Brother goes through girlfriends quickly. We live in a shack on the edge of the woods,” Joseph said.
“My parents are wannabe yuppies that try to act like everything is hunky dory. They deny that my older sisters are constantly making my life miserable, so I spend as little time at home as possible. There is a lot of porn to look at in Joseph’s shack,” was Randall’s contribution, earning a lot of glares from the girls.
“My parents divorced, and my grandparents spoil me financially, which is how I afford this video equipment. My mom is never home so I have too much time alone,” said Ed.
“My family is middle class like Adam’s, but I have two older brothers that liked to roughhouse, and didn’t care that I was a girl. They aren’t mean, just thoughtless. It forced me to be tough when young to not get hurt. I’m Brandon’s neighbor. Brandon’s mom asked me to look after Brandon since his father is an abusive drunk, and his mom didn’t want him growing up as meek as her,” Brittney revealed.
“It didn’t work,” retorted Tom.
“Obviously. I still try to protect him though. His mom is nice but has kind of given up on life. No one should have to live through that. You guys didn’t help, either!” Brittney’s voice raised in anger.
“I’ve already seen the error of my ways and will give my all to not cause him more problems,” Tom replied stiffly as he looked at Adam.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Then what’s your story, loudmouth?” demanded Andrea.
“No story from me,” said Tom. “My family is nice and supportive. Two brothers, two sisters. All way more considerate and caring than me. Somewhere along the line I just became an asshole. I almost didn’t live to regret it after picking on the boss. It’s nice to take it out on invaders though.”
A few people nodded at that last statement.
“Nick, how did you become friends with Adam?” Andrea asked.
“Heh, we met in elementary school on a pee-wee soccer team. He barely ever did anything, so no one liked playing with him. One time I took a hard slide tackle from a jerk kid. I cried and Adam ran over and shoved the kid to the ground making him cry, then he picked me up and told me I was fun to watch at soccer. My dad liked that so invited him over to play.”
“Haha, so Adam has always been boring but nice,” Andrea laughed. Then she looked at Adam, “Though he’s neither when it comes to goblins.” Adam just shrugged in response.
“Anyway, everyone should be rested now so let’s be done with the touchy feely,” Adam said, trying to steer things back to their mission. Alissa moved over to him and vigorously rubbed his abs under his poncho.
“You don’t like touchy feely?”
Adam sighed but didn’t stop her. He knew better both from having a sister that teased him and just being excited about the flirting.
“Anyway, we’ve spent an hour moving around and only fifteen minutes fighting. We’ve killed 14 goblins. Do you guys want to assign your levels and then get back out there, or try again tomorrow?” Adam asked.
Abbey slightly raised her hand and said cautiously, “once our mana is full, we should go get some more. There is still a lot of time in the afternoon.”
“I agree,” added Tom. “If we do some more today that means we can spend even more time tomorrow.” Most people spoke up in agreement.
“This has been a lot. I’ve gotten ok recordings, but I’d like to get more. The more we do this the more I’ll know what to bring tomorrow,” said Ed.
No one decided to leave and after sharpening and cleaning the weapons as best they could, they went back to where they had encountered the goblins before. They still moved cautiously since the goblins already knew they were around. There would be no surprise from their part. Adam, Nick, and Carlos checked all the shadows and were consistent in their efforts, not losing focus this time.
When they got to the corner, the bodies that Adam had fought were already gone. A drone confirmed that there were goblins on the roofs watching for them and communicating. Adam peered around the corner and counted 24 goblins that he could see. He looked back at his group.
“24 known goblins. Probably five assassins lurking too. Still want to go ahead with this?” Several people swallowed hard, but everyone nodded.
“Ok, here is how we are going to do it. We will set up here. One side to the wall. The sun is still hitting it so if you see a shadow then it is an assassin. I’ll be fighting too. No disabling for everyone to get a hit. We are fighting together, so put them down quickly. As the corpses fall, Lucas will call for everyone to move backwards. Use the bodies to make it difficult for them. If we are going to be overwhelmed, or they come from behind us, then we retreat immediately. Run as a group. We will be as fast as the slowest person, so drop gear if you need to go faster. I will take last on a retreat, with Nick, Carlos, and Lucas in the lead.”
After a few questions were answered, everyone got into position. Everyone had gotten either four or five levels by now, so they were on level with the goblins, and all their melee should be able to compete one on one. Ellias had even gotten another spell. At level 5 to his class, he had been offered the skills [Earth Shot], [Fire Ball], or [Water Ball]. He had chosen [Earth Shot] and said it would be way more damage but took a lot more mana. He’d only have about two shots if he was also casting [Mana Dart].
Adam wondered what he should do to get the goblins attention when Ed pushed forward and gave him a jagged looking rock the size of a baseball.
“Try throwing this as hard as you can. I want to see how strong you are.”
Adam shrugged and waiting for Ed to get in position. With the drone above him, he cranked his arm back and threw the rock hard at a group of goblins. The rock spun in the air and the hit a goblin’s face. Their head snapped back and the whole body was taken off it’s feet into the goblin behind him.
The goblins pointed to Adam and started to run. They didn’t come in a formation. They didn’t let the shield bearers lead. They simply yelled and threw themselves towards him.
Turning to the group, Adam said, “About 30 seconds until they get here. There is no order, and they are in a lather.” He gripped his sledgehammer and stepped back so the goblins would run past the group hiding around the corner to get to him.
When the first goblin arrived, it noticed the group with surprise, and was then run into by others before it could stop. The goblins in the lead were suddenly too crowded to swing their arms. Scrapers thrust forward piercing them. [Mana Darts] were fired. Machetes went for necks. Any that reached Adam had their bodies smashed by his sledgehammer. Those that didn’t die right away were left for the group.
Goblins kept coming. After the initial attack the goblins arrived slower, having to walk around the bodies at the corner. The group had to turn their positions, allowing the goblins to walk around their own dead to reach them. Adam joined the end of the spears, jabbing with his hammer’s head to herd them into the group’s killing zone. He also watched his team’s retreat point to make sure they weren’t flanked.
Slow minutes passed as the fighting went on. Even though the goblin’s side was chaotic, the teens were doing well. They kept positions, passed dull weapons to Brandon, Brittney, and Abbey to sharpen. Weapons that were ready to use were passed forward. When Lamar ran out of arrows, he pulled out his machete and joined the front liners, who had left enough space for the mages to shoot. The battle wasn’t taking a long time, but it was exhausting, and everyone held up due to their enhanced stats. However, battled only go well right up until they don’t.
Adam was slow to notice it in the chaos. Maybe it was the heat pulsing through him calling for blood, or maybe he wouldn’t have noticed it even in the best of situations. As the goblins swarmed, and goblins fell, the light on the ground became spotted with shadows. From around the corner an unnatural shadow reached. It touched the shadows of corpses and stretched further.
The group had changed their positioning with the front liners facing away from the building since all that was on their right were goblin corpses, piled three bodies high. All the goblins ran around them since climbing them would have been too difficult with the slick of blood and gore. This left a gap between the corner of the building and the support, who were frantically sharpening machetes and whatever scraper was handed to them.
The shadow reached the building and crept behind them. Adam felt a tingle in his head. It was like when he knew someone was watching him but worse. Death was coming and he couldn’t stop it, and it was not from the goblins around them.
Ignoring a stone axe being swung at him, he turned and yelled, “Behind you!” The axe landed on his shoulder, jamming his arm, tearing through his poncho, and drawing blood. Immediately the coolness that had been in his head receded and his inner river raged. Heat flared through him while more blows fell on his back. He had been blocking the approaching goblins from there group. There was no way for him to get to the shadows without throwing people in his group out of position, so he jumped at the wall above them.
A goblin lunged from the shadow, stone knife leading as it went towards Brittney. She heard Adam’s yell and turned the machete she was holding, deflecting the knife. It still tore into her upper arm, but while her body was moving to deal with that, a second assassin came from where her back had turned, preventing her from seeing it.
“Nooooo!” Brandon shouted as he threw his own body in the way of the second knife. Blood and gore splattered out as his insides were torn by the jagged knife, from his abdomen to his obliques. Abbey gasped and backed up, while Ed looked up from his laptop for the first time all fight. Brittney felt Brandon’s blood hit her, and she screamed.